One of these places is within walking distance from me - soooo good.

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By Robert F. Moss

It’s time once again for Southern Living’s annual list of the Top 50 BBQ Joints in the South. I spent much of the past year buzzing down Interstate highways and navigating winding back roads as I revisited old favorites and checked out new contenders for the list. Here’s what I’ve concluded after all those thousands of miles and pound after pound of smoked meats: the South has a lot of really, really good barbecue, and it just gets better each year. 

Some of the trends I noted while compiling last year’s list are even more pronounced in 2023. Barbecue entrepreneurship continues to flourish, and in the past year many of the Top 50 restaurants moved into bigger and grander buildings or added additional locations. Ambitious new players keep entering the market, too, and they’re incorporating more and more flavors from other culinary traditions, including those from their own families. The result is an array of vibrant new spins on regional barbecue classics and many exciting new dishes to try. 

It also seems that the South’s brisket fever is finally starting to break. Yes, many new barbecue restaurateurs, regardless of where in the South they are working, still look to Texas for inspiration, often unabashedly branding their operations “Texas style.” More and more, though, ambitious pitmasters are seeking something else to differentiate themselves. They’re turning to less common cuts, like beef cheeks and pork steaks, and less common meats, like lamb and fish. Some are even aspiring to stake out a new, more modern style that’s unique to their particular region.

 Meet The Women Redefining Barbecue In Texas

That’s one reason why, when compiling this year’s list, I’ve tightened the screws on regionality. It’s certainly not required that a restaurant specialize in the style of its particular city or state in order to make the Top 50 (and many of the entrants certainly don’t). But if you’re going to specialize in Texas-style brisket in Georgia or Memphis-style ribs in North Carolina, there needs to be something special to make the experience stand out.

That word “experience” is key. After all, this is a list of the best 50 barbecue joints in the South, not the best barbecue. For a restaurant to make the cut, its barbecue has to be delicious, but that’s not all that matters. When barbecue fans go out to eat, they’re not grading meats in a styrofoam box like judges do in regimented barbecue competitions. Sauces count, presentation counts, and so do the side dishes and desserts.

Setting is a factor, too. A restaurant doesn’t have to be old and classic, nor does it need to be pristinely shiny and new. Both sorts of places appear on this list. But if there’s something unique and compelling about the physical location, that tends to push a restaurant up a few notches. Having a long line doesn’t necessarily knock a place out of contention, either, as much as I loathe waiting for barbecue. If diners have to wait an hour or more to eat, though, there needs to be something to make the wait enjoyable or worthwhile, for that’s part of the overall experience.

There are a handful of entrants appearing for the first time on this year’s list, and a few have fallen off. One absence worth noting is Palmira Barbecue, an impressive newcomer in Charleston, South Carolina, that debuted in the 19th slot last year. Owner/pitmaster Hector Garate did not renew his lease in the downtown Port of Call food hall and is moving into a standalone brick and mortar spot, but as of publication time that new location is still in the works.

Most of the movement this year was simply a shuffling of the order within the list, and in particular within the top 10. Some old favorites seem to have slipped a bit in recent years, while others have either upped their game or just seem more vibrant and essential in comparison. In particular, the number one slot has a different name than it has had in the past few iterations.       

We can (and probably will) argue over the specific rankings and who should or should not have made the cut. I’ve had plenty such arguments with myself as I struggled to nail down the list. I’m sure I caught a few restaurants on a bad day, and I’m sure there are some worthy contenders out there I just haven’t made it to yet.

Here’s what I am confident of, though: if you eat at all 50 of these joints, you will not only enjoy some fantastically delicious barbecue but will also experience the full sweep and range of the South’s diverse and thriving barbecue culture.

Methodology

The rankings in this list are determined by Robert Moss, Southern Living's Contributing Barbecue Editor, based upon many years of traveling the South eating barbecue. He has dined at each and every restaurant on this list in person and has visited almost all of them multiple times.

When compiling each year's list, he revisits as many previous honorees and as many potential new contenders as time and stomach capacity will allow. There are no score sheets or empirical grading systems employed. Instead, it is a qualitative ranking based upon the enjoyment of the meal and the overall experience of the visit.   

01of 50

50 Prime Barbecue

COURTESY OF PRIME BBQ

403 Knightdale Station Run, Knightdale, NC

919-373-8067, prime-bbq.com

Ten miles east of Raleigh in Knightdale, Christopher Prieto has built a gleaming haven for barbecue fans. Though smack in the middle of pork and vinegar sauce territory, Prieto turned to his Texas and Puerto Rican roots for inspiration. The result is juicy brisket with a perfect peppery bark, smoky ribs speckled with black pepper and caramelized sugar, and a splendidly savory “barbecue rice” that’s browned with onions and bacon fat and simmered in beef stock along with slivers of sausage. (His mother’s recipe.) It’s all served in a sleek new building with tall windows, shiny white tile, and lots of black and orange accents. There are a few throwback touches, too, like old metal pit lids repurposed as wall decoration and white enamel handwashing sinks, a nod to the old farm fixtures where workers washed up when they came in from the fields for lunch. All in all, it’s a prime setting for some delicious barbecue.

02of 50

49 Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q

PHOTO: JUSTIN FOX

1238 DeKalb Avenue Northeast, Atlanta, GA

(404) 577-4030; foxbrosbbq.com

In 2007, twin brothers Jonathan and Justin Fox opened their original DeKalb Avenue restaurant and introduced Atlanta to the barbecue style of their native Texas: slow-smoked prime brisket, jalapeno cheddar sausage, and Frito pie. These days the city is awash in such Lone Star State specialties, but Fox Bros. still stands out because of its lively atmosphere and its over-the-top barbecue creations. Brisket, pulled pork, chicken, and ribs anchor the menu, and those meats get spun into creative, cross-regional combinations like “chicken fried” ribs with Alabama-style white sauce, “Tomminator” tater tots smothered with Brunswick stew, and towering smoked bologna and pimento cheese sandwiches. The Foxes call this “Atlanta Style,” and it seems well suited to such a dynamic melting pot of a city.

03of 50

48 Bar-B-Q Center

ROBERT MOSS

900 N Main St., Lexington, NC

(336) 248-4633; barbecuecenter.net

The Bar-B-Q Center is an iconic example of the long-running Piedmont North Carolina barbecue tradition. Its roots stretch back to an era when barbecue was routinely found at drive-ins alongside hamburgers, hot dogs, and ice cream. Back in the 1950s, the restaurant was actually named the Dairy Center, for ice cream was front and center before hickory-cooked pork stole the show. You can order that pork in any of the standard Lexington variations—chopped, sliced, or “coarse chopped” (cut into chunks)—and on a sandwich, as a tray (with slaw and hushpuppies or rolls), or as a plate (a tray plus french fries). The restaurant’s “red slaw” is a classic example of the region’s signature side, dressing finely chopped cabbage with the same combination of vinegar and tomato as the region’s iconic barbecue sauce. If you’re dining with a crowd, save room for the famous banana split, a towering concoction big enough for an entire family to share.

04of 50

47 Charlie Vergo's Rendezvous

Charlie Vergos Rendezvous. 

CHARLIE VERGOS RENDEZVOUS 

52 S 2nd St, Memphis, TN

(901) 523-2746; hogsfly.com

Memphis is famous for dry-rubbed ribs, and the Rendezvous is where they originated. Back in the 1940s, Charlie Vergos converted an old coal chute in his basement restaurant into a barbecue pit, and he started cooking pork ribs hot and fast over a charcoal fire. He finished the racks with a spice blend borrowed from his father’s Greek chili recipe, with paprika added for color, and they’ve been a Memphis legend ever since. Equally iconic is the Rendezvous’s setting, from the stylish red and green awning outside to the red-checked tablecloths and photograph-lined walls of the basement dining room. Start things off with a ham, cheese, and sausage appetizer plate and a cold draft beer, then move on to a big basket of those charcoal-crisped ribs. It’s a barbecue experience found only in Memphis.

 The Story Behind the "Rendezvous Special" Plate

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46 Truth Barbeque

BEN SASSANI PHOTOGRAPHY

110 S Heights Blvd., Houston, TX

(832) 835-0001; truthbbq.com

In the summer of 2015, Leonard Botello IV opened the first Truth BBQ in a small red metal building along the side of U.S. 290 near Brenham, Texas. Long lines of hungry barbecue fans quickly formed. In 2019, he headed seventy miles east to Houston and opened a larger second restaurant in the Heights neighborhood. Long lines formed there, too. They’re coming for what may well be the best brisket in Houston— thick sliced and with a great blocky texture — plus juicy turkey, savory brisket-laced boudin, and, on Saturdays, beef ribs and Carolina-style whole hog. Attention to detail shows in everything from the stylish labels on the stout glass sauce bottles to the piquant array of housemade pickled vegetables that garnish the trays. An array of hearty sides — especially the creamy, cheesy tater tot casserole—finish things off with style.

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45 Hurtado Barbecue

ROBERT MOSS

205 E Front St, Arlington, TX

(682) 323-5141; hurtadobbq.com

Brandon Hurtado is moving fast on the Texas barbecue scene. In 2018 he launched a pop-up operation, quickly upgraded to a food truck, and in February 2020 moved into a permanent location in a former biker bar in downtown Arlington. He and his wife, Hannah, have since added two more restaurants in Fort Worth, a concession inside the Texas Rangers baseball stadium, and now have another downtown Arlington location on the way. Hurtado brands his style “Mexicue,” proudly merging the flavors of his Hispanic heritage with classic Texas barbecue. On the traditional front, luscious brisket has a sharp peppery bark, and pork ribs are tinged pink with smoke straight down to the bone. Brisket is incorporated into an array of fusiony concoctions, too, like brisket and bean tostadas, birria tacos, and Hurtado’s take on the Texas Twinkie, which stuffs smoked brisket and pimento cheese inside a bacon wrapped jalapeño.

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44 Kibb's Bar-B-Q

ROBERT MOSS

1102 E Harrison St., Stuttgart, AR

(870) 673-2072

Central Arkansas has a distinctive if not widely-known barbecue style, and there’s no better place to sample it than at Kibb’s. Walter Kibble founded his first Stuttgart restaurant around 1980, and his family members now operate outposts in Pine Bluff and North Little Rock. All serve ribs and rib tips, burgers, and smoked bologna, but the barbecue sandwiches are the real standouts. Sliced pork is tucked inside a warm toasted bun and dressed in the thick, sweet brown sauce that is a hallmark of the local style. The beef version is even better, with meat sliced thin then chopped into shards that brim with rich hickory smoke. That sticky brown sauce comes in mild, medium, or hot varieties, and even the medium version will leave your tongue tingling long after the last bite.

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43 Tropical Smokehouse

ROBERT MOSS

3815 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach, FL

(561) 323-2573; eattropical.com

Chef Rick Mace opened Tropical Smokehouse in 2021 with the explicit goal of creating a new Florida style of barbecue. The offering includes standards borrowed from other parts of the South, like prime brisket and spareribs cooked on a big offset smoker. The most compelling items, though, draw upon the Florida seas or incorporate Caribbean flavors, like spicy smoked wahoo dip and mojo-laced pulled pork. The sausage links are stuffed with a blend of ground Duroc pork and Everglades gator, while golden brown empanadas are filled with a savory chopped brisket and gooey melted cheese. Best of all is the smoked mahi, which is tender and flaky beneath a mahogany brown crust brimming with hardwood smoke. Even more of this Florida-style ‘cue is on the way, too, for Mace has a second location in the works a few miles north in downtown West Palm Beach.

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42 Home Team BBQ

126 Williman St, Charleston, SC

(843) 225-7427; hometeambbq.com

Since it opened in 2006, Home Team BBQ has helped forge a new mode of Southern barbecue. Its founders, Aaron Siegel and Taylor Garrigan, were originally fine dining chefs, and they brought upscale culinary sensibilities to traditional wood-cooked barbecue, winning over a new generation of fans in the process. The offering is unconstrained by regional boundaries, with pork, chicken, brisket, and ribs cooked over red oak on Lang and Oyler pits. Lots of contemporary creations are in the mix, too, like smoked carnitas tacos, pit-cooked pastrami sandwiches, and superb smoked chicken wings served with tangy Alabama-style white sauce. Home Team helped establish a new hangout-oriented barbecue vibe, with a full bar serving frozen cocktails, live music at night, and plenty of sports on big screen TVs. There are now six locations in South Carolina, but the long dining room and broad outdoor patio at the downtown Charleston restaurant is the best choice for experiencing this pioneering blend of old and new.

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41 Blood Bros. BBQ

Courtesy of Blood Brothers.

5425 Bellaire Blvd, Bellaire, TX

(713) 664-7776; bloodbrosbbq.com

Houston’s Blood Bros. BBQ is a prime example of how today’s forward-looking pitmasters are blending Southern barbecue traditions with flavors from their own culinary heritage. Brothers Terry and Robin Wong and their friend Quy Hoang, all natives of the Houston suburb of Alief, launched a barbecue pop-up in 2014 and moved into a brick and mortar restaurant in nearby Bellaire four years later. The Texas standards are solid — smoky brisket, tender sliced turkey, an excellent jalapeño cheddar sausage — but the selections shine even brighter when they incorporate the rich diversity of flavors now found in Houston. Firm, smoky ribs are painted with sweet and savory gochujang glaze. Brisket fried rice delivers heavenly bursts of smoky beef with each bite. A rotating slate of daily specials like brisket popper rangoons and banh mi sandwiches with char siu pork guarantee there’s always something novel and delicious to discover.

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39 TIE: Bessinger's BBQ

COURTESY OF BESSINGER'S

1602 Savannah Highway, Charleston, SC

(843) 556-1354; bessingersbbq.com

There’s no #40 restaurant in this year’s list, for when it comes to two iconic Charleston mustard sauce joints I had to declare a tie. Bessinger’s and Melvin’s are separately-owned, and which I recommend depends on which side of town you’re currently on. If you’re across the river from downtown in the West Ashley neighborhood, then Bessinger’s is your best bet for scoring a plate of chopped pork barbecue dressed in South Carolina’s signature tangy/sweet yellow mustard sauce. It also has a notable version of the state’s iconic side dish, hash and rice. The Bessinger family brought that distinctive style from Orangeburg County down to Charleston just after World War II, and the restaurant on Savannah Highway was founded by Thomas Bessinger in 1960 and is operated by his sons Tommy and Michael today. No Charleston barbecue tour is complete with a visit to at least one of the Bessinger establishments.

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39 TIE: Melvin's BBQ

JONATHAN BONCEK

925 Houston Northcutt Blvd., Mount Pleasant, SC

(843) 881-0549; melvinsbbq.com

Tying at #39 is Melvin’s BBQ, which is the place to head if you’re east of the Cooper River in Mount Pleasant and want to sample South Carolina’s iconic mustard-sauced pork and savory hash and rice. Melvin Bessinger was another of the brothers who fanned out around the greater Charleston area and opened barbecue restaurants, and Melvin’s is run today by his son David. Over the decades, all the family’s restaurants have had to adapt to the each new shift in the barbecue industry — from drive-ins to all-you-can-eat buffets to the rise of craft barbecue and brisket mania — while still maintaining the fundamentals that make South Carolina unique. Yes, you can order Texas-style brisket at Melvin’s today (and it’s actually pretty good), but why would you want to when there’s such delicious wood-cooked pork and succulent hash and rice to be had?

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38 Peg Leg Porker

COURTESY OF PEG LEG PORKER

903 Gleaves St., Nashville, TN

(615) 829-6023; peglegporker.com

Peg Leg Porker bills itself as “Real Tennessee BBQ,” and that it is. Owner/pitmaster Carey Bringle brought an array of western Tennessee standards to the heart of Nashville, including dry rubbed ribs, slaw-topped pulled pork sandwiches, and “Memphis sushi” (dry rub-sprinkled kielbasa, cheddar, and saltines.) The Yardbird —tender, juicy smoked chicken finished with the same red spice blend as the ribs — is a delight, and there are plenty of other Southern treats to round out the meal, like bright red kool aid pickles, gooey shells and cheese, and smoked green beans studded with onion. The bar features Peg Leg Porker whiskey, Bringle’s own line of bourbon and rye, which is distilled right there in Tennessee.

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37 Burnt Bean Co Barbecue

ERNEST SERVANTES

108 S. Austin St., Seguin, TX

(830) 609-7189; burntbeanco.com

Lockhart may be Texas’s historic barbecue capital, and Austin is where the craft barbecue movement was born, but these days top-notch barbecue can be found all over the Lone Star State. Seguin is the home of Burnt Bean Co., which was opened three years ago in a downtown storefront by Ernest Servantes and Dave Kirkland. The restaurant is notable for the consistent quality of its Central Texas staples, like hefty pepper-studded ribs and beefy brisket with a salty sweet fat cap. The cowboy beans are definitely not burnt, and they are as good as any in Texas, enrobed in a rich broth brimming with smoky beef shreds. If you spy a pork steak on the specials board, order it. Two inches thick with a black pepper crust and sweet, tangy glaze, it’s a massive, meaty slab, and the rosy circle next to the bone is so tender it almost melts in your mouth.

15of 50

36 Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge

RANDY MCNEILLY AT MCNEILLY PHOTOGRAPHY

200 E. Dixon Blvd., Shelby, NC

(704) 482-8567; bridgesbbq.com

That barbecue at this long-running Shelby institution is cooked fresh each day on old-school brick pits, and it’s served in a setting with grand retro style. The big green sign out front reads “Bridges Barbecue Lodge” in stylish red and yellow neon lights. An inlaid wood ceiling and turquoise-backed booths set the vibe in the bustling dining room. The offering is classic Piedmont North Carolina, with chopped hickory-smoked pork laced in a warm tomato-laced vinegar sauce. It’s served with red slaw and hush puppies on a barbecue tray or tucked inside a warm griddled bun to make a sandwich. Those hush puppies are superb, with a tender, sweet crumb beneath a crisp golden brown crust. Be sure to order one of Mama B’s pimento cheese sandwiches, too. With ruby-studded cheese slathered between two slices of toasted white bread, they’re a delicious complement to old school Piedmont-style barbecue.

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35 Hite's Bar-B-Que

JENNIFER HITE

240 Dreher Rd., West Columbia, SC

(803) 794-4120; hitesbbq.com

Many of South Carolina’s now-famous barbecue restaurants got started as take-out stands selling barbecued meats just one or two days a week. Hite’s in West Columbia still operates in that mode. More meat market than restaurant, it’s open Fridays and Saturdays only, and since 1957 they’ve been cooking whole hogs, ribs, and chickens on open pits in the big screened-in pit house out back. As cord after cord of split oak and hickory stacked in the back attest, they’re cooking on all wood, and you can taste it in each smoky bite. The rest of the South Carolina essentials are there, too: tart yellow mustard sauce, pints of savory slow-simmered hash, and takeout containers of banana pudding. Grab a bag of skins if you see one (they go fast). Instead of deep frying, the pig skins are crisped up on the pit and chopped into big shards that deliver an incredible punch of smoke beneath each jaw-rattling crunch.

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34 Valentina Tex Mex BBQ

COURTESY OF VALENTINA'S TEX MEX BBQ

308 South Main Street, Buda, TX

(512) 221-4248; valentinastexmexbbq.com

Valentina’s made a big leap in the summer of 2023 when it moved ten miles south from its previous semi-permanent spot on Menchaca Road in Austin to Buda Mill & Grain, a new mixed use development in the growing town of Buda. Customers can now eat in air-conditioned comfort in the spacious dining hall and order liquor drinks from a full bar. What hasn’t changed is the food, which fuses traditional Texas barbecue with bright Mexican flavors. Pork carnitas, chopped brisket, and smoked chicken tacos tuck tender strands of smoky meat inside large flour tortillas still warm from the griddle. Fajitas deliver strips of smoky cerveza-marinated beef or chicken with great crisp edges, and they’re topped with creamy guacamole and sweet sauteed peppers. Each bite sparkles with cilantro, tomatillo, and lime. That impressive Tex-Mex blend is rounded out by hefty side dishes like juicy smoked corn dotted with cool crema and bacon-studded charro beans.

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33 McCabe's Bar-B-Q

PETER FRANK EDWARDS

480 North Brooks Street, Manning, SC

(803) 435-2833

South Carolina is home to the all-you-can-eat barbecue buffet, and McCabe’s is the best in the state. It doesn’t require a lot of money to enjoy, either — just $13.65 on my last visit, drink included. The selection is anchored by Pee Dee-style whole hog barbecue, which is pulled into long strands and dressed with a spicy vinegar-pepper sauce. The fried chicken is tender and juicy beneath a thick jacket of crisp peppery batter, and the small steam table offers an array of tempting sides, like tangy stewed cabbage, tender turnip greens, and crisp-fried hush puppies. Of particular note are two regional specialties: juicy, sage-laced chicken bog (the Pee Dee’s distinctive version of rice pilau) and savory, reddish orange hash served over white rice.

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32 LC's Bar-B-Q

ROBERT MOSS

5800 Blue Parkway, Kansas City, MO

(816) 923-4484; lcsbarbq.com

Once a regional specialty found only in Kansas City, burnt ends — the crisp, smoky bits trimmed off the end of briskets — have now spread far across the South. They’ve taken on new variants, too, like candy-sweet bacon burnt ends. For my money, though, the old-school beef versions at LC’s are the best anywhere. The tender, chewy morsels have a delightful salty, smoky bark, and they’re drenched in tangy sauce and served atop a layer of sliced white bread to soak it all up. Follow those up with a platter of smoky sauce-draped ribs or a sloppy combo sandwich with tender sliced beef and ham layered between slices of white bread. Everything that emerges from the big smoke-blackened vertical pit behind the front counter is worth sampling, and LC’s remains an essential example of Kansas City’s traditional barbecue style. 

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31 Killen's Texas Barbecue

ROBERT MOSS

3613 Broadway, Pearland, TX

(281) 485-2272; killensbarbecue.com

In 2013, restaurateur Ronnie Killen opened Killen’s Barbecue in a low-slung building that originally served as the cafeteria for the Pearland Independent School District. At the time, Texas was still in the early days of its craft barbecue renaissance, and though many more players joined the scene in the years that followed, Killen’s remains solidly in the lead pack. The cafeteria line is still there, but now the metal trays are loaded up with an array of splendid smoked meats. Killen’s brisket has a superbly firm but juicy texture and a great peppery bark, but the snappy hot links and smoky thick-sliced turkey — a much underappreciated barbecue meat — are equally worth attention. The restaurant stands out for its signature desserts, too, especially the sweet croissant bread pudding and hefty blocks of carrot cake drench draped in gooey cream cheese icing.

21of 50

30 Big T Bar-B-Q

ROBERT MOSS

2520 Congaree Road, Gadsden, SC

(803) 353-0488; bigtbbq.com

I used to insist that barbecue fans make the 20-mile drive from Columbia out to Gadsden to visit "the mothership," where Larry “Big T” Brown and his family cook their splendid barbecue and hash. Since Covid-19, though, the small gray and red building has been take-out only, so the storefront location on Garners Ferry in Columbia is a better bet if you’re looking for a sit-down meal. Either way you’re in for a genuine Midlands South Carolina treat. Big T’s wood-cooked pork is chopped and generously dressed with a golden mustard-based sauce, and the tan-hued hash and rice — rich, meaty, and satisfyingly savory — is my pick for the best in the state.

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29 Helen's Bar B-Q

ROBERT MOSS

1016 N Washington Ave., Brownsville, TN

(731) 779-3255

Helen Turner is the driving force behind this no-frills Brownsville joint, and she does everything from shoveling coals in the screened-in pit room to serving customers at the tiny order window between the kitchen and the dining room. Ribs, “bar-b-que” (that is, slow-smoked pork shoulder), and bologna are the meat options, with beans, slaw, and potato salad for the sides—all classic elements of the West Tennessee barbecue style. When you order a rib sandwich at Helen’s, it comes bones and all on a soft hamburger bun with plenty of fiery red sauce. How do you eat such a messy package? Slowly and carefully, savoring each nibble of smoke-kissed rib meat.

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28 Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ

PATRICK MCGOUGH

1011 King St, Charleston, SC

(843) 990-9535; rodneyscottsbbq.com

In 2017, Rodney Scott took the whole hog barbecue style he learned at his family’s restaurant in Hemingway, South Carolina, and brought it down to Charleston. Rodney Scott’s BBQ has since become a fixture of its King Street neighborhood, and local families mingle with tourists from far off. The city version of Scott’s has an expanded menu that includes spareribs, fried catfish, and even brisket, and there’s local craft beer on tap and a full dining room. The core of the operation, though, remains the same as up in Hemingway: burn oak down to coals, fire the pits, and cook whole hogs for 12 hours before finishing them with a fiery vinegar-pepper mop. That whole hog barbecue is still the go-to order, but the tender pulled chicken and the pit-smoked prime rib sandwich are worth attention, too. Scott isn’t resting on his Charleston laurels, either. There are now three locations of Rodney Scott’s BBQ in the Birmingham area, one in Atlanta, and another in the works for downtown Nashville.

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27 Sam Jones Whole Hog BBQ

DENNY CULBERT

715 W Fire Tower Rd, Winterville, NC

(252) 689-6449; samjonesbbq.com

Sam Jones grew up working in the world-famous Skylight Inn in Ayden, North Carolina, which his grandfather Pete Jones founded in 1947. Though still affiliated with that Eastern North Carolina institution, Sam branched out in 2015 and opened a large format restaurant in nearby Winterville under his own name. Sam Jones BBQ straddles the old and the new, and the whole hogs are cooked and finished in Winterville just as they are in Ayden. The slaw and square-cut cornbread adhere to the family's original recipes, but much of the Winterville menu caters to more contemporary tastes. There are ribs, smoked turkey, and fried catfish, for instance, and you can get barbecue served over a salad or inside a loaded baked potato. The large dining room has a high-vaulted ceiling and plenty of booths and long tables plus new-fangled innovations like draft beer on tap and credit card machines. In 2021, Jones opened a second location in Raleigh, bringing his family’s classic Eastern North Carolina style barbecue all the way to the state’s capital city.

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26 Leroy And Lewis Barbecue

COURTESY OF LEROY AND LEWIS

121 Pickle Rd., Austin, TX

(512) 945-9882; leroyandlewisbbq.com

In 2017, Evan LeRoy and Sawyer Lewis parked their barbecue truck and pit trailer in the Cosmic Coffee + Beer Garden complex and proceeded to upend Texas barbecue traditions. They steered away from the classic trinity of brisket, ribs, and sausage and went New School instead, sourcing meats from sustainable Texas ranches and adding plenty of unexpected twists. Smoked beef cheeks have a splendidly silky texture beneath a pepper-rich bark. Tender barbacoa is chopped into fine juicy shreds and finished with crumbled queso fresco and jalapeno salsa. LeRoy looked eastward for inspiration, too, embracing South Carolina-style whole hog, yellow mustard sauce, and slow-simmered hash served over white rice. Be sure to include a side order of the house-made kimchi. Juicy, funky, and brimming with spicy heat, it’s a surprisingly wonderful accompaniment for a big platter of smoked meats. More barbecue innovation is on the way, too, for Leroy and Lewis have secured a location in South Austin and are hard at work on a standalone restaurant complete with beer and wine, an inhouse bakery, and private event space. 

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25 Cozy Corner

ROBBIE CAPONETTO

726 North Parkway, Memphis, TN

(901) 527-9158; cozycornerbbq.com

The setting may be bare bones, and the sign on the pale blue awning is battered and rusted, but Cozy Corner is an undeniable Memphis icon. Desiree Robinson, who co-founded the restaurant in 1977 with her late husband Ray, has kept the fires burning well into the 21st century, earning herself a spot in the Barbecue Hall of Fame along the way. The city’s signature barbecue items are all here: smoky ribs and rib tips enrobed in a sweet, tangy sauce, BBQ bologna sandwiches, and BBQ spaghetti, a fusion of tender noodles and savory barbecue sauce found only in Memphis. Cozy Corner offers a few unique wrinkles of its own, too, like smoked cornish hen and sandwiches that pile thin-sliced pork or beef on long sesame-topped sub rolls instead of the usual bun. 

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24 Old Hickory Bar-B-Que

HECTOR MANUEL SANCHEZ

338 Washington Ave., Owensboro, KY

(270) 926-9000; oldhickorybar-b-q.com

Owensboro is the barbecued mutton capital of the world, and the best place to sample this distinctive Kentucky delicacy is at Old Hickory. Since 1918, six successive generations of the Foreman family have been barbecuing mutton alongside pork, chicken, beef, and turkey, and they’re still using hickory coals to fire the big cinderblock pits with sliding metal doors in the cookhouse behind the restaurant. After a judicious dunk in thin Worcestershire-laced “dip”, the long, tender strands of smoked mutton are chewy, smoky, and sublimely delicious. Old Hickory’s burgoo is an outstanding version of the classic Kentucky barbecue accompaniment, featuring mutton, pork, chicken, and vegetables slow-simmered into a smooth, tangy, and very satisfying stew. 

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23 Kreuz Market

ROBERT MOSS

619 North Colorado St., Lockhart, TX

512-398-2361; kreuzmarket.com

The current Kreuz Market on North Colorado Street, with its swinging double front doors and cavernous pit room, was built in 1999, but the restaurant dates all the way back to 1900, when Charles Kreuz Sr. purchased a downtown Lockhart meat market and put his name on it. A century later, you still place your order in a smoky pit room, and the countermen pull giant hunks of brisket, pork ribs, and turkey from big brick pits and slice them on a round wooden block. The real standouts are the thick, bone-in pork chops, which have a beautiful pink smoke ring along the bone end, and the lean shoulder clod, an old Texas cut with long beefy strands beneath a thick, smoky bark.

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22 Southern Soul Barbeque

WYNN MYERS

2020 Demere Road, Saint Simons Island, GA

(912) 638-7685; southernsoulbbq.com

A constellation of factors makes Southern Soul a must-visit barbecue destination. There are delicious slow smoked meats, of course — brisket, chicken, turkey, and sausage, all cooked over oak on Oyler and Lang pits. Sweet and smoky honey-basted ribs are long-time crowd favorites, and Southern Soul’s rich, tangy version of Georgia’s traditional Brunswick stew is a delight. The laid-back, retro beach vibe is essential, too. The walls of the old converted gas station are bedecked with old license plates, and long picnic tables under a tall metal awning out front are perfect for whiling away a pleasant afternoon. There’s always something intriguing to be found on the specials board, too, like smoked mahi dip, reubens with house-cured pastrami, and smoked wings tossed in Georgia peach barbecue sauce. It all adds up to an irresistible barbecue oasis just a mile from the Atlantic Ocean.

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21 Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q

BEN FINK PHOTOGRAPHY

1715 6th Ave SE (US Highway 31), Decatur, AL

(256) 350-0404; bigbobgibson.com

Robert “Big Bob” Gibson started cooking pork shoulders and chicken in his backyard in 1925, and he single-handedly created an entire sauce category when he started dunking his smoked chicken in a unique mayo-based white sauce. Generations later, the traditions are carried on by pitmaster Chris Lilly, who not only married Big Bob’s great-granddaughter but is also a renowned barbecue competition champion and live-fire cooking guru. Back in Decatur, Lilly and the crew still cook top-notch pork, ribs, brisket, and turkey on old school big brick pits fired by blazing hickory logs. Equally of note are the restaurant’s splendid housemade pies. The meringue-topped coconut cream may well be the best barbecue dessert in all of the South.

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20 Arthur Bryant's Barbeque

HECTOR MANUEL SANCHEZ

1727 Brooklyn Avenue, Kansas City, MO

(816) 231-1123; arthurbryantsbbq.com

Arthur Bryant’s signature style has roots stretching back to the early 20th century and Henry Perry, Kansas City’s original barbecue king. Perry taught the trade to Charlie Bryant, who taught it to his brother Arthur, who eventually took over Charlie’s restaurant and moved it to its current location on Brooklyn Avenue. Arthur Bryant passed away in the 1980s, but the counter men still carve tender folds of smoked beef on stainless steel slicers, and they pile them on brown butcher paper, brush them with sauce, and slap three or four slices of white bread on top. The splendid fries are cut by hand, and Bryant’s original sauce is unique among Kansas City joints. More orange than brown, it’s mildly hot with a bit of a gritty texture from an array of spices, which give the perfect boost to a giant open-faced beef sandwich. It’s just one of the many reasons that Arthur Bryant’s has remained an essential stop for any barbecue lover visiting Kansas City.

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19 2fifty BBQ

ROBERT MOSS

4700 Riverdale Rd., Riverdale Park, MD 

2fiftybbq.com

These days Texas-style barbecue can be found all over the South, but what makes 2fifty special is the personal spins that owners Fernando González and Debby Portillo add. In 2018, the couple moved from their native El Salvador to the D.C. suburb of Riverdale Park, Maryland, and started selling slow-smoked meats at the local farmers market. In April 2020, they set up a permanent operation in an old corner grocery, where González and his team cook thick-sliced prime and American wagyu brisket, racks of meaty, primly-trimmed St. Louis-style ribs, and poblano and cheese-laced sausages on a 1,000-gallon offset smoker. Of particular note are the Central American-inflected side dishes, like meltingly tender fried plantains, watermelon drizzled with fruity red Chamoy sauce, and red Central American kidney beans slow-simmered with brisket.

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18 Stamey's Barbecue

FACEBOOK/@STAMEYSBARBECUE

2206 West Gate City Blvd, Greensboro, NC

(336) 299-9888; stameys.com

Warner Stamey was a North Carolina barbecue giant. Through his restaurants and his mentoring of younger pitmasters, he helped define and propagate the Piedmont region’s distinctive barbecue style. After bouncing between Lexington and Shelby for a few decades, he wound up settling in Greensboro, where he opened Stamey’s on Gate City Boulevard in 1953. Stamey’s grandson Chip and great-grandson Craver carry on the tradition today, cooking pork shoulders on closed brick pits fired by all-hickory coals. Chopped into fine shreds and lightly dressed in the region’s signature tomato-tinged vinegar sauce, the pork is deliciously juicy and imbued with subtle smoky flavor. Long, curved hushpuppies and tangy red slaw are the classic accompaniments. Don’t skip the peach cobbler, either. It’s the perfect capper to a classic Piedmont North Carolina barbecue experience. 

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17 Smitty's Market

ADRIAN GUTIERREZ

208 South Commerce Street, Lockhart, TX

(512) 398-9344; smittysmarket.com

There’s no experience quite like ordering barbecue at Smitty’s Market in downtown Lockhart. You enter the pit room and step back a half-century or more into a haze of post oak smoke. Just a few feet from the small counter where you order, a fire blazes on the floor at the opening to an ancient brick pit. The smoke blackened menu board offers “lean beef” (shoulder clod), “fat beef” (brisket), sausage, turkey, ribs, and pork chops by the pound (and cash only). You carry your purchases through the swinging glass door to the bright-lit dining room and dig in at long communal tables beneath a punched-tin ceiling. The lean beef shoulder has a wonderful smoke-infused bark, and the horseshoe-shaped hot links pop with savory, slightly spicy flavor. The bone-in pork chop is the real standout, though, with a disc of thick, juicy loin meat and a spur of tender dark meat along the bone that’s tinged red with sweet post oak smoke — a Central Texas classic.

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16 Franklin Barbecue

DOMINIQUE LAFOND

900 East 11th St., Austin, TX

(512) 653-1187; franklinbarbecue.com

It’s been almost fourteen years since Aaron and Stacy Franklin parked a retrofitted Aristocrat Lo-Liner camper on the side of an I-35 access road and started selling slow-smoked brisket, sausage, and ribs. In the process, they sparked a Texas craft barbecue revolution. In 2011 they moved into a blue and white cinderblock building on East 11th Street, and customers have been lining up ever since to see what the fuss is about. A flock of talented craft pitmasters have since emerged on the Texas scene (some of whom learned the ropes in Franklin’s pit house), but waiting in line at Franklin for three hours or more remains something you just have to do when visiting Austin. The offering still hews to the classic Texas trinity that earned Franklin his fame—juicy prime brisket brimming with black pepper, smoky pork ribs, and meaty housemade sausage—along with pulled pork, turkey, and, on the weekends, hefty beef ribs.  

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15 Tejas Chocolate + Barbecue

JOHN DAVIDSON

200 N. Elm St, Tomball, TX

(832) 761-0670; tejaschocolate.com

The sausage game is strong at Tejas Chocolate + Barbecue, and it has helped transform an artisanal bean-to-bar chocolate shop in downtown Tomball into an acclaimed barbecue destination. Kielbasa and chili relleno links are menu fixtures, the latter packing fine-ground beef, fire roasted poblanos, and cubes of pepper jack cheese inside a snappy casing. The other smoked meats are top-notch, too. Beneath a thick salt-and-pepper bark, the first bite of prime brisket explodes with flavor, and flawless ribs have a fine smoky flavor beneath a subtle peppery glaze. And, yes, there are plenty of delicious hand-made chocolates for dessert. 

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14 Archibald's BBQ

ROBERT MOSS

1211 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Northport, AL

(205) 345-6861; archibaldbbq.com

Alabama-style ribs are a category all their own. Full slabs are cooked hot and fast over a hickory fire on a big brick-and-cinder block pit, which imparts a distinctive firm, meaty texture and lots of delightful crisp, charred bits around the edges. One of the foremost practitioners of that style can be found just across the river from Tuscaloosa in Northport. At Archibald’s, the ribs are served doused in spicy, orange-hued vinegar sauce with slices of white bread laid over the top — perfect for creating impromptu sandwiches or soaking up the savory sauce. The restaurant is run today by the grandchildren of founders George and Betty Archibald, and in recent years they’ve expanded the dining area and added smoked chicken, hot wings, and fried fish to the menu. Archibald’s remains a bare-bones operation, though, and those fire-kissed ribs are still the main attraction.

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13 Cattleack BBQ

ROBERT MOSS

13628 Gamma Rd., Dallas, TX

(972) 805-0999; cattleackbbq.com

Cattleack Barbeque is open only from 10:30 am to 2:00 pm on Thursdays and Fridays plus the first Saturday of each month, but diners make the most of those tight windows. What started out as a post-retirement hobby for Todd and Misty David quickly grew into a thriving barbecue business, and the couple ended up taking over the space next door and adding a big dining room. The crowds line up for Cattleack’s brisket, which has a superb texture beneath a tangy, peppery bark. Hefty beef ribs, pork ribs, turkey and sausage are all sliced fresh to order and piled onto paper-lined red trays. With burnt end beans, cheesy chipotle corn, and hatch chili mac & cheese, the offering is classic Texas, but Todd David also has a North Carolina-style direct heat cooker, and whole hog barbecue is now a menu regular, too.

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12 Grady's Barbecue

ROBERT MOSS

3096 Arrington Bridge Rd., Dudley, NC

(919) 735-7243

This 4th of July, Grady’s celebrated its 37th year in business, and with each passing year it becomes a more precious treasure. Such mom-and-pop joints once dotted the North Carolina countryside, but Grady’s is one of the last few left. The modest white-painted building sits in the narrow fork where two country roads meet, and customers line up around the small brown-paneled dining room to order at the kitchen window. Out back, a pile of split oak and hickory logs waits under a tin-roofed shed behind the pit room, where Stephen Grady — now well into his 80s—cooks split hogs overnight on open brick pits. His wife, Geri, still makes all the sides from scratch, including steamed cabbage, collards, and black-eyed peas. A tender, smoky chopped pork sandwich with coleslaw is a perfect Eastern North Carolina lunch, and don’t skip on the fried chicken, either.

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11 A&R Bar-B-Que

ROBERT MOSS

1802 Elvis Presley Blvd., Memphis, TN

(901) 774-7444; aandrbbq.com

Memphis is famous for its slaw-topped barbecue sandwiches, and A&R serves the best in the city. The pork shoulder is slow-cooked on a charcoal-fired pit, then chopped and layered on a soft bun with yellow-tinged slaw and lots of A&R’s signature reddish brown sauce. Even better is the rib sandwich, a delightfully messy concoction with a short, meaty slab wedged, bones and all, between two slices of plain white bread, with plenty of sauce and a dollop of slaw. (It wouldn’t be a Memphis-style sandwich without slaw.) If you still have room, snag a homemade fried pie for a sweet finish. 

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10 B.E. Scott's BBQ

10880 Highway 412 W, Lexington, TN

(731) 968-04200; facebook.com/bescottsbbq

Zach Parker is keeping alive the West Tennessee whole hog barbecue tradition, which once flourished in the region but has long teetered on the brink of extinction. Parker owns Scott’s BBQ in Lexington, a town of 8,000 in the center of Henderson County, and he learned the craft from his father, Ricky Parker, who learned it from founder B.E. Scott. Smoked chicken and BBQ-topped nachos snuck onto the menu a few years back, and Parker sometimes adds smoked bologna or ribs as specials. The heart of the operation, though, is slow-cooking whole hogs over hickory coals on big cinderblock pits. Pulled fresh and chopped fine, the pork is superbly juicy with a rich dose of wood smoke flavor, and the bright orange pepper-laced sauce adds a perfect finishing zip. 

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9 Goldees

WILL MILNE/GOLDEE'S BARBECUE

4645 Dick Price Rd., Fort Worth, TX

(817) 480-4131; goldeesbbq.com

Goldee’s burst on the Texas scene in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, a new but very traditional barbecue restaurant founded by five young pitmasters who learned the ropes at some of the state’s most acclaimed joints. Goldee’s stands out among a crowded field for one big reason: consistent quality. Every single thing on the menu is top notch, right down to the slices of white bread that come with each order, for the loaves are baked fresh in house. The Texas essentials are solid: moist, pepper-crusted brisket, tender ribs with a tangy glaze, juicy turkey, and peppery sausage links. The sides keep it simple—potato salad, coleslaw, splendid pinto beans in a rich tomato-studded broth—with one glorious exception: a thick, succulent pork hash served over rice. It’s a side dish borrowed from South Carolina, but with a spicy Texas twist that’s all its own.

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8 Lewis Barbecue

PETER FRANK EDWARDS

464 N Nassau St., Charleston, SC

(843) 805-9500; lewisbarbecue.com

Everything about Lewis Barbecue is impressive, from the flawless brisket that headlines the menu to the sublime cowboy beans served alongside. Owner/pitmaster John Lewis mastered his craft barbecue technique while working the pits at two acclaimed operations in Austin, Franklin Barbecue and La Barbecue. Then he headed east in 2016 and opened a Texas-style joint in the heart of downtown Charleston. In doing so, he not only won over a bunch of pork-eating Carolinians with the allure of slow-smoked beef but also managed to improve on the craft barbecue model as it’s practiced in Texas. Lewis Barbecue is open seven days a week and doesn’t sell out before closing. Guests don’t have to wait for hours in line, either. (On my last visit, I arrived two minutes before noon on a Friday and was eating my first bite of brisket less than twenty minutes later.) The thick-sliced brisket is world-class, with rich marbling and a flawlessly smoky bark. For my money, though, the house-made green chile cheddar sausage steals the show, offering a big punch of smoke balanced by gooey cheese and a surge of chile heat. With a slate of tequila cocktails and Shiner Bock on tap, it’s a welcoming Texas oasis in the heart of the Holy City. 

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7 Lexington Barbecue

100 Smokehouse Lane, Lexington, NC

(336) 249-9814; lexbbq.com

Lexington is where the traditional Piedmont North Carolina style of barbecue was born, and there’s no better place to experience it than at Lexington Barbecue. Wayne Monk opened the restaurant in 1962, and more than a half century later his family is still cooking pork shoulders on closed brick pits directly over glowing oak and hickory coals. As is standard in the region, you can order it chopped, sliced, or coarse chopped, and it’s generously dressed in a thin vinegar-based sauce that’s tinged red with ketchup. (Or, “dip”, as the locals call it.) That sauce adds the perfect zip to the pork’s subtle smoky richness, and it gives the restaurant’s “red slaw” its distinctive color, too. Barbecue fashions may be shifting elsewhere in the South, but in Lexington, at least, they’re sticking with the tried and true.

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6 Skylight Inn BBQ

4618 South Lee Street, Ayden, NC

(252) 746-4113; skylightinnbbq.com

Why is this small restaurant in tiny Ayden, North Carolina, such a Southern legend? Just take one bite of barbecue and you’ll know. The pork is chopped into fine, tender shreds, and each chew unleashes a juicy, smoky burst that’s accented by the crunch of little bits of pig skin, which are chopped right into the meat. There’s a minimalist purity to the rest of Skylight’s “pig tray,” too. A flat square of unsweetened cornbread, dense in texture and almost polenta-like in its rich corn flavor, is stacked atop a paper boat filled with barbecue. Atop the cornbread is stacked another paper boat with finely minced and very sweet slaw, and its cool crispness is a fine complement to the pork’s spicy, smoky bite. The secret to the barbecue’s splendid flavor isn’t hard to uncover: just peek around the back of the building at the massive mounds of split oak logs beside the pit house. It all goes to fire the open brick pits, where they cook whole hogs overnight before pulling the meat, seasoning it with salt, cider vinegar, and Texas Pete, and chopping it to shreds with cleavers. It’s as fundamental as North Carolina barbecue gets.

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5 Scott's Bar-B-Q

ROBERT MOSS

2734 Hemingway Hwy., Hemingway, SC

(843) 558-0134

If I had to declare the single best barbecue bite in the South, it would be the long strands of whole hog from Scott’s in Hemingway. Plenty of other restaurants have fancier decor, a broader selection of meats, and more upscale side dishes, but none has such succulent pork, with a fiery red pepper bite up front followed by a sweet surge of hardware smoke that lingers on the tongue. There seems to be a new feature each time I visit Scott’s (this time around it was six white-topped picnic tables under a blue metal canopy just in front of the pit house), but the essence of the operation remains unchanged. The crew still cuts down white oak and pecan trees and splits the logs in the big lot behind the old country store. They still reduce those logs to embers in a giant burn barrel, its sides warped by years of heat, then carry the embers by the shovelful into the cookhouse and scatter them beneath whole hogs on smoked-blackened cinder block pits. After 12 hours, the pigs are flipped and mopped with a pepper-laced vinegar sauce that bubbles and simmers around the meat, then pulled by hand into those long, beguiling strands. It’s the quintessential Pee Dee South Carolina barbecue experience and a must-visit entry on your Southern barbecue bucket list.

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4 Louie Mueller Barbecue

WYNN MYERS

206 W 2nd St., Taylor, TX

(512) 352-6206; louiemuellerbarbecue.com

My favorite part about visiting Louie Mueller Barbecue in Taylor, Texas, is the moment you pull back the battered screen door and step into the long main room amid a haze of fragrant post oak smoke. And also when you get to the front of the line and start ordering meat by the pound at the long wooden counter. And when you take your tray over to one of the well-worn tables with mismatched chairs and tuck into some of the best barbecue in all of Texas. The lushly-marbled brisket has a caramel-like sweetness to its bark, and the pork ribs are firm but juicy beneath a peppery but sweet glaze. The turkey is smoky and tender, and the taut casing of each housemade sausage link crackles and snaps as you bite, revealing a savory filling with a peppery heat that surges slow and steady on the tongue. Run today by Louie’s grandson Wayne, Louie Mueller Barbecue still sets the standard for the Central Texas meat market style.

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3 Dreamland Bar-B-Que

DREAMLAND BBQ

5535 15th Avenue East, Tuscaloosa, AL

(205) 758-8135; dreamlandbbq.com

If you love ribs, you owe yourself a visit to Dreamland. The restaurant now has eleven locations in three states, but the red-painted cinderblock building on the south side of Tuscaloosa is where it all began back in 1958. The menu at the flagship is more barebones than at its fancier younger siblings—just ribs, sausage, chicken, and chopped pork sandwiches. The setting is more barebones, too, and that’s a virtue. Beneath a low ceiling, the red walls are cluttered with old license plates, framed photographs, and all sorts of Alabama Crimson Tide memorabilia—the perfect atmosphere for enjoying Alabama’s distinctive style of barbecued ribs. The big, meaty slabs have a wonderfully chewy texture with crisp bits of char around the edges, for they’re not slow-smoked but grilled over a hickory fire in a big brick pit. Be sure to add a link of sausage to your order, for it has a rich, smoky flavor with a punch of smoky brown char from the pit. Just don’t plan to visit when the Crimson Tide are playing a home football game. It gets a tad busy then.

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2 Fresh Air Bar-B-Que

FACEBOOK/@FRESHAIRBARBECUE

1164 Highway 42 South, Jackson, GA

(770) 775-3182; freshairbarbecue.com

Founded in 1929, Fresh Air is the epitome of traditional Georgia barbecue, and there’s no other joint quite like it. You tread across a carpet of wood shavings in the covered entryway and step through the front door into a small dining room. The wooden paneling on the walls is stained almost black from decades of hardwood smoke, and you order at a short counter just in front of the big L-shaped brick pit where the barbecue is cooked. No brisket, ribs, or even chicken can be found on the smoke-blackened menu board. Here barbecue means one thing and one thing only: pork— specifically, 15 to 20-pound hams slow-cooked over hickory and oak. The finished pork is chopped into long shreds and dressed in a thin, tangy red sauce, and it’s infused with the rich, juicy smoke flavor that you can only get from a direct heat pit. A “special” plate delivers that splendid barbecue along with sweet, finely-chopped slaw, two slices of white bread, and a cup of the best Brunswick stew in all of the South. With fine shreds of beef and minced onions and corn in a thick tomato broth, it’s a genuine Georgia delicacy.

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1 Snow's BBQ

SNOW'S BBQ

516 Main Street, Lexington, TX

(979) 542-8189; snowsbbq.com

It’s not easy to get your hands on a tray of Snow’s barbecue, and it’s only gotten harder in recent years as more people from around the world have learned about it. The restaurant is open just one day a week (Saturday), and service starts at the unconscionably early hour of 8:00 am. Eager fans, many of whom have traveled in from other states and even other countries, begin lining up long before dawn, and that line seems to grow longer each year. On my last visit, I stepped into position a few minutes before 7:00 am, and I sat down at a picnic table with my loaded tray at precisely 11:00 o’clock. 

WYATT MCSPADDEN

It was worth every minute, though, for the barbecue experience is like none other in the South. Recent adjustments have helped make the wait more bearable, like a new merch counter flanked by a short bar with free canned beer and Bloody Marys, which foster congeniality and conversation among the waiting guests. The line now wraps around the open back of the long metal-roofed cook shed, so guests can watch the crew working the massive pits in the gray light of dawn. That crew includes 88-year-old Tootsie Tomanetz, an international barbecue star, who still oversees the metal-lidded direct heat pits, though pitmaster Clay Cowgill now handles the briskets and ribs on the big offset smokers. 

What those pits produce is nothing short of fantastic: firm, coarse-grained sausage with a great snap to the casing, thick sliced brisket with a caramelly sweet fat cap, and hearty spare ribs kissed with a layer of post oak smoke. The best bite of all is the pork steak, a rare find in the heart of Texas beef country. Tender and juicy with a sparkle of salt and a concentrated dose of smoke in its mahogany bark, it’s a Southern barbecue treasure that’s more than worth hopping on a plane, driving through the dark of a Texas night, and waiting hours in line to enjoy.